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Stevia Sweetened Coke, Soon in the US?

Coca Cola Life, a stevia sweetened version of Coke, will expand beyond South American test markets, according to Coca Cola CEO Mukhtar Kent. It’s not clear if this product is heading our way, but if it is we advise to stay clear. Here’s why…

As with Pepsi Next, this is not a zero calorie drink. Rather, half the sugar content has been replaced with a zero calorie sweetener. Coke went with Stevia (Pepsi chose aspartame). While stevia is not as bad as aspartame, it has not been thoroughly tested for safety. Coke wants us to believe this product is all natural. Indeed the stevia plant is a natural sweetener, but the stevia powder used in food manufacturing is highly processed.

The reduction in sugar in Coke Life is to be commended, but even with half the amount of sugar in regular Coke, a can has over 4 teaspoons of sugar. In a day and age where our taste buds have been overwhelmed by sugars, perhaps a better alternative for consumers is to start drinking water?

Drinking water is always better. Just ditch the soda….. No reason to have it in your diet regardless of new ingredients.

Hb

It’s sad that drinking water has become such a chore for millions of us. I have zero problems consuming water over other options. Coke will never be a healthy alternative on its own standing, it can only be healthy IN COMPARISON to something much worse like a standard can of coke…healthy or low fat/low sugar in marketing terms is COMPLETELY relative, we should do more research before shoveling crap in our mouths that is advertised as healthy alternatives

rubicon bill

I won’t be purchasing it. Just water for me and sometimes with a little apple cider vinegar in it. If I go any further it is just tea once in awhile.

enayday

I Am Not A Fan Of water I ThinkBuyingBottledWaterIsAWasteIActuallyBoilMyWater IWouldRatherJustDrinkAlmondMilk

Healthy Man

We drink a lot of liquids and like anything we consume a lot of, it should be healthy. Water is the best. But there are alternatives with no sugar; flavored seltzers and teas for example. http://www.healthyman.co

Nicole Johnson

Admittedly I’ve become a snob when it comes to soda pop beverages. I avoid them like the plague and cringe when I see others chugging their ginormous 64oz thirstbusters at 9 in the morning. Research has shown the moment this beverage is consumed it initiates a chemical reaction in the brain very similar to those seen in drug addicts upon dosing up. I wish this knowledge was the focal point of food advertisements rather than these business-minded attempts to convince the public that these companies have our best interests in mind. Ay humanity. We are killing ourselves.

Cutting sodas is a hard task for me but trying my best to cut it out from my diet.

http://gigieatscelebrities.com/ GiGi Eats Celebrities

What I hate is that when big companies like this add STEVIA to their product, they still keep the sugar. Makes no sense to me. They just need to make another version of their product that SOLELY contains stevia, no added sugars or aspartame or sucralose! Just stevia, PLEASE! Until then, I am sticking with my ZEVIA !!

overseaschinese

Zevia is not solely stevia. It’s a mix with erythritol – another caloric ‘natural’ sweetener. In fact, erythritol is the main sweetening component in their beverage products. Furthermore, the addition of erythritol actually ‘stabilizes’ if not enhances the stevia product. So in fact, their marketing of “stevia”-only is more or less a hype. They should be promoting more of erythritol than stevia due to its higher ratio and higher sweetening effect.

No offense, but in the world, there are VERY VERY few stevia-only sweetened beverage.

http://greeneyedguide.com/ Danielle Robertson

Interesting that the bottom line of this article seems to be “avoid sodas sweetened with stevia because that sweetener is highly processed.” How about we say avoid soda all together but if you DO drink a soda here and there in moderation, choose one with a natural sweetener like luo han or stevia over one with artificial sweeteners. And of course stevia is processed, it’s a plant extract. How else do you expect to get that compound extracted AND purified? I’ve tasted a lot of crappy stevias as a food scientist; processing and purifying shouldn’t be automatically considered a red flag that something is bad for you. Context matters. @GreenEyedGuide

walleyke89

I thought it would be hard to stop drinking soda but so far I haven’t had one in 12 days. That’s going from drinking almost a 12 pack a day. All I have had is water and unsweetened tea. It’s a change but worth it. Even if coke put stevia in their drinks I don’t see how it could be any healthier with all the other chemicals in it.

Carly Brooke Steffen

Shouldn’t all the sugar be replaced with stevia? Sugar has no health benefits whatsoever. It just adds superfluous calories. Stevia does not have any calories like sugar and doesn’t kill good bacteria as artificial sweeteners do either. Take my advice and try or stick to Zevia instead.

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